Extreme Couponing in California

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With the debut of Extreme Couponing (season 3) tonight I wanted to make a note for those that may have found this site due to the show. I will not be watching, (see my rant here) for many reasons.. but I realize that many people may find Southern Cali Saver because they are interested in saving money for their family.

Couponing has been such a blessing to me and to my family. While living in California and trying to save money in such an expensive state–couponing has made it possible to live on one income–in a two income world.

Saving money in California is possible and I began this blog to prove it. What you see on Extreme couponing is true–to some extent. When you coupon–more realistically you will save over 60% on your grocery bill. (Hey, that beats paying full price!)

I feed my family of 5 on $350 a month.

While Extreme Couponing is all glory and loves to show you the power of the coupon, please know that a lot of the show is not realistic. It is possible to save great amounts of money on products you enjoy everyday. Alot of the show is done in states that have stores that allow multiple doubling of coupons and have a lower cost of living.

If you are looking for a place to start and are ready to start saving, you may want to start below:

Comments

Amen to that I am so proud of what I am able to save and let’s be honest all of the people on extreme couponing are scamming becauw no store will and or coupon allows u to use 200 of the same coupons the manufacture that pay the stores for coupon don’t appreciate people using 200 coupons and here in Cali where we don’t get double or triple couponing it is hard to save like the people on the show and I will not dumpster dive for coupons .

It was in deed thanks to that show that i found you. I still watch the show for fun, but I know it is impossible to do what they do, some people say they cheat and that I don’t like . I try to always do it the right way. I am very happy I found this blog!!!!!!

Girl! That’s true! I agree… I just moved here and almost fainted when I came here and saw rent was crazy, gas prices and chilcare, but your blog helped me with saving grocery money for ny family! Your blog is very realistic then extreme couponing… Thank you for all the hard work you do for families like mine looking for a way to save money!

Completely agreed! I like watching the show for fun and I wish we had double coupons in Cali but what can yah do! And I have also cut my grocery bill in almost half and love that! I hate when Im buying something I dont have a coupon for!

I also watch the show just to see te crazy people. I am also happy to save any money on my groceries. I do not try to do what these people do. I do not want to spend more than an hour grocery shopping, 4 hours really? This chick has so much regular soda unless they are drinking a 12 pack a day, it will expire before than can drink it.

I have bought no more than 8 cases of water at a time however, I drink 4 to 5 bottles a day plus my middle daughter drinks 3 to 4 bottles a day and my husband drinks at least two a day, so we go through water like crazy but I am not as crazy as the people on TV

Deanna I was thinking the same think about the 4 hour trips in the store. Especially when they show them planning for the trips and “pre-ordering”. LOL! They definitely jazz it up on the show. I would love to see a realistic shopping trip where the people are greeted with mean cashiers and managers.

Thank you for all you do! We will not be watching either. I love that families are seeing the savings and looking to use it in their lives. However the show sets a weird bar that is not realistic or needed. You have SO much info for the newbie to get solid good information. I suggest your site all the time! I would have missed many deals without you working so hard to help a couponer out & share the hot info. Thank you!

The show is what got me into couponing. I thought I can do what people on the show do. Well, in reality, that is not the case. I realize the show is only for entertaining purpose. It is fun to watch the first couple of episodes, but it gets boring after a while. In my opinion, it is basically the same thing over and over again. When I watch the show, all I hear is the beeping of the cash register. I don’t watch the show anymore, but this show actually get me into couponing and finding southerncalisaver. I acutally googled couponing in southern california after the show and find this amazing website. Thank you Josie for all your hard work!

I admit that the show got me interested in couponing last summer, but I’m so glad that one of the first sites I used explained realistic couponing. It still disappoints me when I meet other couponers who compare themselves to the show and they don’t think 60% savings at a grocery store is good. I could go on and on about how wrong the show is, but one thing that I never really noticed until a non-couponer pointed it out to me was the organization. They show stocks organized by date and everything but when they’re at the store they just throw everything in the basket and never think it necessary to tell the store they’ll be buying 500 sport drinks.

Whether or not there is a relationship, I blame the examples of quasi-legal usage of coupons shown on the show for the ever-expanding restrictions we are seeing now and ever-changing coupon policies at our local store.

I spent almost 1/2 hour in CVS working with one of the worst cashiers ever. Not in words but in attitude this cashier treats me like a crook when I attempt to tender legally allowed coupons. My local group of ladies frequently has this sort of problem at least once a week. I blame the Extreme Couponing show for portraying those of us who use coupon as hoarding crazies, which we’re not.

Thanks for all you do, Josie! Your site is a G-d send for those of us attempting to save money while enjoying life in one of the most expensive areas of the country.

I know this show is unrealistic but i like to see what deals they are doing, wondering if they are doing the same deals we are. One deal I always see them do is the Powerade. But I’ve never seen coupons for them. Actually most of the deals i see them doing I’ve never heard of LOL. Maybe this was just filmed a long time ago or something.

Saving money…so no cable here! But it was a preview I saw at my mother in laws that got me interested in couponing to a greater extent. I would use a coupon here or there when I needed something but never to the extreme i do now of matching up sales with coupons with most likely ups…Thank u Josie for ur site and helping me stockpile the things I need and to share my mm, free, almost free items with my loved ones. :+)

I used to watch it and it did spark my interest in couponing. But once I saw the blatant illegal use of qs I stopped watching. I now only coupon for what I need and does not expire. In fact I am running out of things to shop for other than groceries. With an average Savings each week on my Vons bill of 65-95% I am happy….

The first lady had vendor coupons for between five and ten dollars. where do u get those? They don’t mention them at all. Do u think that manufactures give them to them to promote there product? Like being paid for advertising. Just curious.

Thanks for the notes Josie! I did indeed find your site from being inspired to save from the show. I do want to point out that a lot of the people on the show have their own savings sites/blogs and I never seen any of the deals they did on the show on their blogs. Which is how I found you and I am extremely grateful!!! The show is purely for entertainment; I have you ever heard a cashier ask if you have any coupons??? The answer is no, because most do not want to scan them. LOL!!! And I believe on several episodes people mentioned that relatives and friends send them coupons, which we all know some coupons are regional. One thing I can say is that Josie has actually taught me how to shop wisely. I hate to sound cliche but it definitely goes back to the whole “give a man a fish feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and feed him for life.” And that’s what I feel like you have done. I know everyone says this but it without a doubt it is true; You have saved my family so much money. I have cut my grocery bill in half and I truly feel blessed to have stumbled across your site. I love the sense of community on this site. Everyone truly wants to help everyone save and help people with questions.

I dislike the show, I saw part of it last night and they are taking coupons for free pizza and taking off like $8! I bet she wrote the company saying hey I’m on tv, want to advertize your product. It’s a drama show, not a helpful show.

The only good it does is make stores like ralphs think we clear shelves like that!

SNLY – I have to agree with you. I’m so glad that I found this site. Josie you have taught me to be a WISER shoper. I’m trying to get out of debt and using coupons has saved me so much money. I don’t watch that show because it’s not realistic to CA. (I do stockpile -but only get what my family will use before product expries- If you buy too much and food expries – you end up throwing it away- where is the savings there?? That’s money you are throwing in the trash!!) Again, THANK YOU Joise for a great site.

I watch this show very carefully to try to decipher how they can get 100% savings. First off, I have never seen coupons for free items and they seem to have lots of them. If the manufacturers are giving them these coupons, then this show is not about Couponing but rather Product Placement. This show is losing it’s appeal. I like to see them explain their deals and show the coupons that they are actually using. Some times they don’t show the coupons because they are fake and or using them for the wrong items. The stores also make exceptions for them like doubling ALL their coupons, etc.

On Jill Cataldo’s website she posted about last nights episode and it was confirmed that the Quilted Northern coupons were counterfit and a few others shown were also counterfit and were even listed on the CIC website as fraudulent coupons.

Just like everyone else, I got curious about couponing after watching the show and found Josie’s site. But I never had the desire to wake up at 4 am to clip coupons and spend 8 hours at the grocery store. I only want enough for my family of 3.

The show needs to put a disclaimer advising viewers to not try this at home. Just like everyone said, a lot of these coupons do not exist or this just don’t happen in real life. Also, I don’t know what kind of mother would risk her and her unborn child’s health just to get these insane amount of savings.

If there’s one thing I can do to re-pay Josie (and Kara) for all their hard work, I would wish that SCS gets a $1 (from the q fairy perhaps :)) everytime I (and everyone else) visit the site. I visit so much that I’m worried that it might trigger an insane amount of activity at work and force them to block it. My life will be over if that ever happens :(.

Hi,
I’m Brittany. I’m 19 years old and I just got a job while attending college. I’m trying to learn how to coupon to save money. The real world is brutal and I’m trying to find all the ways to save. Can someone please mentor me?
-Brittany

It interests me how those people scold get such good deals it seems too good to be true. But i was interested watching the show which led me to this site. Im a young college student planning on moving out soon so i hope couponing will help me save money.

My boyfriend and I live in Los Angeles and we just recently started using coupons. I didn’t think CA would allow us to get anything for free but I was wrong. We’ve actually gotten a few items for free. We’ve saved over 80% on each shopping trip. Our favorite stores are Wal-Mart, Ralph’s & foo4less.

I ran into your site when I was searching for couponers in Cali ! It is very possible to get up to 100% savings . There’s a lot of work that goes into it a lot of price matching and a lot of coupons as long as it does say 4 alike u can use as many as you want . You don’t have to go dumpster diving either. I hooked up with my local newspaper carriers and they have xtra bundles. You can also buys whole inserts off of couponfleamarket.com 50 off them for less than 20.00. I have been doing it for over a year and have helped out so many families and friends . Good luck to you all

I just moved from AZ to CA. AZ has GREAT couponing policies….and I was a member of coupon sense which was great in helping organize my coupons and sales. I feel like every store here I go into I get a different explanation of policies. We live in Rocklin (sacramento area) and I have 8 kids….I NEED coupons!! Can someone help me with policies and if there are any sites that can help match coupons to sales?